PRESENT SIMPLE AND PRESENT CONTINUOS

I already have plenty of resources and ideas for Year 5, but the challenge at home is to adapt them to the needs, interests and communication skills of each of my two children.

Álvar is in Year 6 and has a well-established A2 level. He’s very hard-working and loves English; he also loves public speaking, so he’s making huge progress.

Martín, on the other hand, is different: he loves English and has a much more British accent than Álvar, but we’re struggling with his shyness when it comes to speaking in public. This means he’s progressing at a different pace, but one that’s very, very solid. Martín attends Year 6 communication classes (a family arrangement made possible thanks to his English skills).

And I have addapted this plan of working to Martín needs:

POINT OF GRAMMAR TO START WITH...

                DAILY ROUTINES               WHAT  YOU ARE DOING NOW

We start with the days of the week, and we use, of course Pop_Planet Platform.

MY EVERYDAY TIMETABLE: scholl classes and extra activities.

LINK: https://learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/sites/kids/files/attachment/writing-practice-school-timetable-worksheet.pdf

OUR PICTURE BOOK TODAY IS...

Weekend work at home almost always includes one common element: reading aloud in English. 

For some time now, we have been buying books that are suitable in terms of subject matter and difficulty for Álvar and Martín’s progress. One of these books is *If I Build a School*. It’s a brilliant book which, as well as building up their school-related vocabulary, encourages and motivates the children to imagine their ideal school… very much in line with the creative work I always try to instil in the children.

Here you have the audio book:

And down here, Martín reading today:

READING COMPREHENSION. A Very Strange Day at Oak Tree School

Welcome to Oak Tree School! On normal days, students usually arrive at eight o'clock and put their backpacks inside their lockers. We always start the morning with Maths, where the teacher writes numbers on the whiteboard and students use their calculators and rulers. During Science class, we usually study plants, and in Art, we paint pictures with brushes at our desks. Today, however, everything is completely different and crazy! Right now, in the classroom, Mr. Green is playing the electric guitar while students are throwing colorful paper airplanes. In the gym, where we usually play basketball in sneakers, the PE teacher is doing yoga on a giant pink flamingo float! Down in the cafeteria, pupils always eat vegetables and drink water at the long wooden tables. But look! At the moment, the chef is serving chocolate ice cream for breakfast, and two cats are sliding across the floor! Outside in the playground, where children normally run and chat during break time, an astronaut is walking and talking to a robot near the swings. It is the most unusual day of the year!

Questions

Responde a las siguientes preguntas con oraciones completas (Full sentences):

1. What do students usually do with their backpacks when they arrive at school?

   Answer: __________________________________________________________________

2. What does the teacher normally use during Maths class, and what are students doing in class today?

   Answer: __________________________________________________________________

3. What do pupils usually do in the gym, and what is the PE teacher doing right now?

   Answer: __________________________________________________________________

4. What usually happens in the cafeteria, and what is the chef doing at the moment?

   Answer: __________________________________________________________________

5. Who is walking in the playground today, and what do children normally do there during break time?

   Answer: __________________________________________________________________

SPEAKING.  THE STORY OF A BOY WITH MILLION OF HOMEWORK.

Main task on saturday: communicate, communicate, communicate!!!

The importance in communication in ESL:

According to Cambridge Dictionary;

TODAY IS SATURDAY 26 TH SEPTEMBRE AND WE’RE GOING TO START PRACTICING READING AND SPEAKING IN ENGLISH

OUR MISSION: GET BETTER IN COMMUNICATION SKILLS

To do this, I’ve prepared a short awareness-building activity first, followed by an activity focusing on creativity and communication skills.

We’ll use resources we always enjoy: reading books we have at home and AI to create suitable listening exercises and flashcards to inspire our speaking.

At home, we go beyond simply filling in the blanks; we mainly focus on supporting speaking skills, which, ultimately, is what they practise the least at school, given that, due to the class’s low level of English, they almost always speak in Spanish.

It’s a shame, but it’s difficult to step out of their comfort zone if the children have no greater exposure to English than those brief moments in class.

POINTS OF GRAMMAR TO START WITH.

POSSESIVES.

ADVERBS.

• IRREGULAR ADVERBS

• REGULAR ADVERBS: AdVERB--> ADJETIVE (+ly)

LISTENING ABOUT ADVERBS.

https://share.gemini.google/Ys3ejqeB3bxn

SONG. 

We’ve been subscribed to ELT Pop Planet for a long time now; it’s a very dynamic and natural way of learning spoken English through songs and karaoke. We use the platform’s resources regularly. This is one of our favourite videos, which is brilliant for working on the topic in Unit 1.

https://youtu.be/eejZ4UvMqoc?si=8MbZSA4O9cpuHZwV

READING ABOUT PROFFESIONS.

We are very keen on reading to learn english, get expressions and have nice contex to put into practice what we know.

Today we have used this very old book. In this book kids can get too many words related to work and simple expression to comunicate what they do in their jobs. It is a nice book, visual and very motivated for starter readers in english.

We have several Books written by Richard Scarry, and all are so nice to start reading.

GAMES TO PRACTICE GRAMMAR AND VOCABULARY: Our special task for SPEAKING.

Directions to prepare the speaking:

A) IDENTIFY THE JOB

• What is his/her job?" ➔ "He / She is a / an [JOB]." 
•  "What does a [JOB] do?" ➔ "A [JOB] usually [VERB]."    

B) HOW DO THEY WORK? (ADVERBS).

•  "How do they work?" ➔ "They work / act [ADVERB]." 

 ("A firefighter acts BRAVELY.")  

C) OPINION & REASON 

•  Would you like to be a [JOB]?" 

 "I would / wouldn't like to be a [JOB] because I like / don't like"

Unit 0_Review of the content

Today we’ve started revising the communicative aspects of English to make gradual progress on the long journey that is learning a language.

This summer we’ve been working on each skill a little bit every week, but now that my children are finishing primary school and already have a good grasp of English at A2 (2) level, we need to step up our focus on communication and communicative autonomy.

We don’t yet know for certain whether the Year 6 group will go on the Erasmus exchange, but it would be brilliant for my eldest child to be exposed to real-life English in situations where he needs to be able to understand and respond.

Our school has an Erasmus grant which ends this academic year (2027), so hopefully the teachers will consider the possibility of taking the children abroad and be strict in selecting those who are ready to go, because the previous experience in Gredos showed that maturity is essential for this sort of experience. This is all the more true when it comes to travelling abroad, thousands of kilometres from home, without your parents and in a language that is not your mother tongue.

We know that it is crucial for children going on an international experience but have strong communication skills and a motivation and well behavour  to learn the language, above all so that the funding provided by the EU for this purpose is put to good use.

To get better in communication, at home we spend too much hours given extra support to our kids. So that, we  continue to work hard with them, using activities at home that encourage communication.

The activities are developped from the vocabulary and grammar in each lesson. 

In this case, we uploaded the vocabulary and grammar from "Unit O" you have here:

VOCABULARY:

• China -->Chinese
• France -->french
• Morocco --> moroccan
• Poland -->polish
• The UK the USA --> americain
• Spain -->spanish
• Italy -->italian
• Portugal -->portuguese
• Germany -->german
• Belgium-->belgian

GRAMMAR:

To be good/bad at + ing. 

•  We are good at playing chess.
•  Are you good at speaking German?
•  She is bad at playing the piano.

Where are you from? I’m from + country. I’m + nationality.

 And we have developped thanks to the IA activities to improve reading, listening and speaking using structures and vocabulary from that lesson, here the exemples:

READING&WRITING.

Hello! My name is Pablo and I am eleven years old. I live in Spain, so I am Spanish. Every summer, I go to an international youth camp in Europe where I meet children from many different countries! My best friend at the camp is Pierre. He is from France, so he is French. Pierre is very creative; he is really good at playing the piano and drawing, but he is bad at playing basketball. I also have a great friend named Maya. She is from Morocco, so she is Moroccan. She speaks three languages! She is very good at speaking German and English. However, she is a bit bad at playing chess. As for me, I love sports! I am good at playing football and swimming, but I am bad at cooking

LISTENING (generated with IA)

https://gemini.google.com/share/2367532ecf20?skid=ac1c9946-ee4d-49da-abf8-b5602795ad71

SPEAKING

About yourself you need to explain:

• I (am).... (name)
• I am from (country); So I am ...(nationality)
• I am ....(age) years old
• I stydy at (school)
• I am good at (verb+ing)
• I am bad at (verb +ing)

Describing situations...

At-Home Reinforcement Workbook

Like every September, I’ve spent several days preparing supplementary materials for practicing English at home.

My kids have an excellent teacher who leads many interesting projects; this means we do a lot of work at home on grammar, vocabulary, and communication as a way to prepare them to put all their English communication skills into practice.

Last school year, my oldest son went on a language immersion program with her and loved it. According to his teachers, he made the most of the experience and has shown enough maturity for a language immersion experience abroad.

For years now, we’ve been dedicating a lot of time and resources to helping both of them (the older one in 6th grade and the younger one in 5th grade) develop communication skills and the independence to interact with others in English.

In the near future, we’re going to Milan, and I hope to see them interacting in English in everyday situations like basic shopping, asking for directions, and making suggestions…

Today I finished the workbook of supplementary materials that I prepare every year at the beginning of the school year. The idea is to work on expressions and communication skills—both oral and written.

I used the textbook they’re required to use at school to create this workbook. It’s a lot of work to put together, but then you don’t have to go looking for “worksheets” made by others that are probably less suited to the topics in the school textbook.

I’m sharing the first few pages so you can see what it looks like.

We use this resource along with Genially and the worksheets provided by our child’s teacher, the English reading books that have been a regular part of our home life for years, and the classes and projects offered at the school of communication and linguistics they attend—INFIL.

Last book we have bought are:

Nothing is too much when our goal is real communication and linguistic autonomy.

30 children is a lot of children

30 children is a lot of children.

30 children of all ages, all keen to have fun, are a huge challenge.

The day before yesterday, we held a lovely workshop at the Chiringuito in Aldehuela de Yeltes.

We introduced all the children in the village to the excellent recipe book "Las recetas de Brownie" by Ester, Luci’s daughter-in-law and a neighbour from Aldehuela.

We then read out one of the recipes – specifically ‘Pancakes’ – and worked together to make the batter.

This meant we had enough batter for every boy and girl to enjoy at least one pancake.

We rounded off the workshop with a go at the chocolate coulant from the book, and the children had a brilliant time making lollipops out of fruit or marshmallows, dipped in chocolate.

We had a brilliant time,

30 children is a lot of children, but cultural activities shouldn’t be denied to children in villages.

And Today Álvar and Martín were having a summarize of the activity in english...They had study food vocabulary at school and They know very well irregular verbs in present and inn past....the famous list!...but we put It into practice It in the real context They lived two days ago.

So, They have written about the experience twelve lines and here you have what Álvar has written and After reading aloud.

Link audio

Here the script:

Football World Cup

Today we were doing our BEST in reading  comprehensión and creation activities.

We were using a fantastic ressource about the World Cup.

It is a fantastic way of learning with focusing in their interests

And tomorrow we will finish with simetry activities and drawing tasks.

 After that, they Will explain the meaning of their creations. 

Here my kids working hard:

Workshop "Go Spain"